


From the files of Frank D. Metzger

by Exostrike



Category: Avatar (2009)
Genre: Diary/Journal, Drabble, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 22:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5644810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exostrike/pseuds/Exostrike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recovered logs from the longest serving man on Pandora</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the files of Frank D. Metzger

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Avatar (pointless disclaimer out of the way)
> 
> This was an old series of post I made in 2012 here:   
> http://www.avatar-forums.com/showthread.php?17409-From-the-files-of-Frank-D-Metzger
> 
> Thought I'd post them up somewhere, though I won't be revisiting them.

From the files of Frank D. Metzger

 

_During the evacuation from RDA ESC 01 a large number of personnel files where transferred to the ISV Venture Star, on its return to earth these files were seized for the investigation. Among these files were a collection of reports and personnel works by UNEF Capt. Frank D. Metzger. Capt. Metzger appears to be an anomaly, part of the United Nations Expeditionary Force during the trilateral co-operation period of Humanities exploration of Pandora. When the security aspect of the operation was handed over to RDA, Capt. Metzger appears to have stayed behind, working in co-operation with RDA’s SpecOps. The majority of the files appears to be reports which Metzger sent back to earth, it is unknown if authorities received and/or acted on these reports at the present time, however initial inquires suggest that major policy overseers about RDA’s operations were unaware of their existence. Metzger appears to have edited the reports extensively with the hope of transforming the works into a book, like the other major work in the archive ‘Pandora, the early years’. This book with the instruction that it should be published after his death is presently in legal conflict between RDA and the UN and the Publisher over the fierce criticism the work contains over the transfers of leadership of the mission to RDA. In the interests of this inquiry I have compiled the most relevant entries for evaluation. Capt. Metzger is listed as MIA from during the failed assault on Na’vi forces by SpecOp forces._

 

_Dr Deirdre Zakharov_

_Commission of Inquiry on Pandora_

 

The Policy of Avoidance

It was the official policy of the UNEF after the discovery of the Na’vi (refer to file ‘first contact’ for more info) to keep all contact with them to a minimum. Experience at first contact showed that the Na’vi were extremely reluctant to try and interact with us due to our alien nature. This was the primary reason we survived until reinforcement, our small number gave us no chance of resistance if they became hostile. It was reasoned that if they came to understand us and our technology, they would no longer avoid us, leading to conflict due to our mutually incompatible objectives. This policy served us well in the first few years of the operation and I continue to argue that the policy should be the centre of humanities operations on Pandora.

However this policy has been increasingly ignored, public obsession with the Na’vi on earth has forced us to try an establish relationships with the Na’vi, firstly by ourselves and then with the Avatar Project, an operation I have already expressed my concerns about. Such operations have shattered the air of mysticism we have built up among the Na’vi. Instead of the strange inexplicable being they once saw us as they now know that we are very mortal and that our technology isn’t magic, or any better than their own.

There is another part of the policy of Avoidance, just as we try to discourage the Na’vi coming into contact with us, we had tried to avoid coming into contact with the Na’vi. Initial dig sites were positioned in areas of low native activity, to ensure that we weren’t antagonising them unwittingly. While this ultimately seems to have failed it at least reduced potential conflict points. However as initial resources are depleted RDA has failed to adhere to this policy, instead concentrating on maximum yield despite my objections. In the last decade they have placed 5 secondary mines in areas of high Na’vi activity. This has leaded to a sustained increase in violence and pre-emptive actions which has speed up disintegrating relations with the Na’vi.

However given the now known location of Na’vi population in the local area, which seems to suggest that Na’vi tribes exist on all sides of our ‘territory’, it seems that as operations continue to expand that such conflict is inevitable.

 

The Avatar project

In my previous reports I have been highly critical of the Avatar project including opposing it initial operations; however on reflection I have re-evaluated the project. While the project goes completely against the policy of avoidance, it has given us fascinating information about the Na’vi including their motivations for their attacks against us, even if I fear there is no solution to this problem.

However there is one area of the project I still object to, the transfer of knowledge to the Na’vi (refer to file ‘the danger of schooling the Na’vi’ for more details) while I accept teaching them earth language is of benefit, now they’re more likely to stop if asked so we don’t have to shoot them, the transfer of knowledge is a threat to us, while the knowledge transferred so far is basic, I fear that sooner or later the Na’vi will gather sufficient knowledge to be able to operate human weaponry, given the problems we have at the present containing their activities, such a prospect must be avoided.

Amendment: Thankfully the above concern is no longer an issue; Dr Augustine’s school has been shut down, however while I’m pleased that such action was taken, the methods used where disastrous. It would have been simpler to order Dr Augustine to close the school while she was out of the link machine, if necessary using force there to restrain her and her team. The deployment of soldiers at the school itself was a mistake as it drew the Na’vi directly into what could have been concealed from them. Certainly the order to open fire should note have been given, even in self-defence. As a result relations with the Na’vi have hit a new low, with a corresponding spike in violence; it shows no sign of coming down.

Amendment 2: A recent arrived new disabled Avatar driver called Jake Sully (apparently the Avatar was for his dead brother but still, sending a man in a wheel chair to this place?) has been accepted into the ‘Omaticaya Clan’ and is trying to learn their ways. While I smell Quaritch’s hand it this I strongly object to this operation. No Avatar has been accepted into any Na’vi clan, while this is a great opportunity for further research on their culture (reminder: talk with Grace about getting copies of vid log), there is also the danger of defection. Expended close contact with the Na’vi seems to leave Avatar drivers empathising highly with them. During the Ryder incident there were multiple reports suggesting that Dr Harper colluded with the Na’vi against RDA operations (refer to file for more info). It is highly possible that Mr Sully may develop such connections with the Na’vi that he may either collude with them over even defect, as impossible as it sounds. Considering the Omaticaya Clan’s centre (site file: Hometree (Omaticaya Clan)), is the target of a major planned mining site, I fear that a crisis is developing, but hopefully we will find a way to deal with it.

 

Defensibility of Hell’s Gate

RDA ESC 01 is called Hell’s Gate due to the welcome by Greg Chanway to the second shipload of personnel to Pandora of “Welcome to the gates of hell!” From this the group of shacks in a clearing has become by addition the complex of today. However for this reason the base’s defensibility has been neglected, while the tower guns can keep most wildlife away, there are still weaknesses. The 30m cleared fire zone around the facility is I find inadequate, giving too much cover to potential threats (Na’vi included) to approach; from experience I know that they bows are accurate much beyond that (estimate of 200-300m). An increase to 50m would be sufficient to reduce such problems, but I would prefer a 100m cleared fire zone, especially considering the poor relations with the Na’vi.

I also have concerns that the decision to place base facilities so close to the perimeter walls was a mistake, if attackers penetrated the perimeter they could quickly rush the facility, causing chaos and dividing our forces. The south most wall near the Avatar compound and farming facilities is for this reason considered by me the weakest. I raised similar concerns during the planning for the final layout of the facility, preferring alternatives that placed the habs in the centre, with everything else around it, much more defensible. My concerns were ignored.

There is also a lack of proper defensive structures inside the perimeter, either in the form of bunkers or trenches. While the central towers are reasonably defendable by themselves their integrity is compromised by the number of lesser buildings that connect to them, if an enemy was able to access these he would be quickly able to access the primary corridors, allowing him to move quickly to the strategic positions, I find the Avatar project’s link room, facilities and adjacent bio-lab to be a risky area, considering its proximity to the south wall. I have suggested the creation of loop holes to be included around major facilities but this is yet to be acted on.

 

The Avatar project and the side-lining of other science teams 

It is becoming known among the hierarchy of Hell’s Gate that I am transmitting these reports back to command, it is for this reason I am increasingly get requests for intervention by scientists who feel that the Avatar project and its related process are increasingly diverting resources away from their own sectors, while I understand that the Avatar project is very resource intensive records do indicate that it is receiving the lion’s share of resources allocated to the science operations, this is forecasted to grow as more avatar units arrive. Due to the cross speciality nature of the Avatar project this is acceptable as a continuation of the trilateral co-operation model of science, security and mining, but it seems to be causing anxiety for other department which are being left to run dry, already the geologists have to pool resources with the mining survey teams.

 

Colonel Miles Quaritch

Col Quaritch is the latest SpecOps chief of security to be stationed here. Another ex-US marine man (according to his files 1st Reconnaissance Battalion), no problem with that but I’m increasing find that RDA is recruiting exclusively from American armed forces, which goes against the international nature of the initial operation. But given RDA’s connects with the American government that’s unsurprising. So far he’s been acceptable, very popular with the men, morale overall has been higher than previous chiefs. He also likes to get his hands dirty and take regular AMP patrols, I like that in an officer, shows that they aren’t above it. It’s this hands on attitude which got him is scar. First day he arrives he insists on patrolling outside the wire to get the feel of the place without even going through the training. What happens? A pack of viperwolfs jump us and he tries to stand his ground instead, slashed his face and tore his mask off, if I hadn’t been there with an oxy-mask he’d be dead. Didn’t take the offer to get in patched up back on earth, decided to leave it as a reminder, puts the freaks on some the scientists though.

However I do have concerns about Quaritch’s decisions as chief of security, his leadership style is making him the de-faco leader here, and Selfridge isn’t politically strong enough to control him. He has also explicitly rejected my advice and considers my existence here a distraction. His military strategy is also of concern, He primary method of fighting is to attack, against perceived threats and actual. Considering that at the moment operations here are expanding this gung-ho attitude is drawing us into more conflicts with the Na’vi, increasingly troops are attacking Na’vi positions because they know that as human operations enter into the area they will turn hostile.

I supported his demands for the construction of the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship in the believe that such a potent weapon would be used as a deterrent against Na’vi aggression via fly-bys of trouble spots, however Quaritch seems to consider the vehicle purely as an assault platform, completely ignoring it psychological uses. I also fear there is a weakness in the modification of the vehicle for operation here, while the addition of sentry turrets have improved its survivability, no turrets where added to the upper hull. Considering that many of our helicopter losses has been due to attacks from about by Banshee’s, this I consider a weakness in the design that should have been fixed.

Amendment: I also advise that more correct information about the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship I have received information that says that in articles about the crafts use on Pandora that it can quote ‘With maximum payload, the Dragon is said to be able to destroy an area the size of Manhattan in six seconds’. This is incorrect, while the total payload of the dragon could destroy such and area providing correct munitions was used, but firing said weapons simultaneously would cause the airframe to break apart under the stress.

 

Concerns about weapons

I have concerns about a number of problems with the weapons RDA is using on Pandora. SpecOps’s standard issue handgun (a weapon used both in law-enforcement and the military) I feel is inadequate for operations here. It 8mm rounds, designed for penetrating non or lightly armoured personnel lacks penetration here to cause a solid kill. It is mirrored by many other men here and a number (myself included) have resorted to buying the SN-9 WASP revolver.

Amendment 1: due to the shear demand for Wasp revolver I have started booking space on ISV’s and shipping a number in for sale. I requests for the WASP to become the standard side-arm here seems to have been ignored.

Amendment 2: Part of my shipment did not arrive on this ISV. Apparently the additional mass was needed to accommodate the disabled Avatar driver Jake Sully’s wheelchair. While I am annoyed about this I’ve already built up reserve stock so it is only an annoyance. I am finding myself viewing this venture as a charitable act, insuring the survival of the men out there.

On a side note I advise the phasing out of supplying buckshot ammunition for our CARB shotguns here, their penetration is insufficient to achieve a quick kill and I suggest that medium flechettes (already available put not universal used) are selected for primary ammunition. I find that they offer the spread effect of buckshot with some of the penetrating power of rifle rounds.

While I respect the decision to employ the AT-99 Scorpion Gunship on Pandora I fear that the wrong version was selected for operations here. The AT-99C was built primary as an air-strike weapon, attacking targets with missile, fire support was a secondary concern, for this reason it lacks the fully mobile turreted guns of the type A and B varieties. As we are increasingly engaging target both air and ground based with guns, we are out maneuvered. This is especially true against banshees, used by the Na’vi or otherwise.

I have concluded that the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Lockout system on many of our vehicles’ weaponry here is set to too high a specification. While such a system has worked brilliantly on earth on Pandora it is more of a hindrance. On multiple occasions we have been unable to call down danger close fire support due to the IFF system. In some of these situations we took fatalities. We have been unable to change the parameters of the system without major assistance from the developers who are located on earth.

 

Profiteering

It is gratify to know that someone is actually reading these reports, however I did not expect the reply to be an accusation of war profiteering. I am insulted by this accusation but it is in retrospect unsurprising. I will attach to my next report a complete copy of my accounts to prove that I do not make a profit from the sale of these Wasp revolvers, I charge under the combined manufacturing and shipping costs for the weapon. I was also unaware that RDA has been making requests for payment for you, while it is true that I buy shipping space on the ISV for such weapons plus personnel equipment and resources (at a mark-up of actual shipping costs,) I was assured that such payment would be taken out of my final salary on my return to earth, please explain this to RDA.

Also I have no plans to return to earth on this ISV rotation, there is a number of present crises that I feel require my experience. My contract states that I may extend my operations on Pandora if I consider there to be a valid reason. While I realise my present final salary may be excessive, I had already consented to a 25% pay cut beyond the original mission extension pay decrease. Considering the length of time I have served here and under such conditions I feel that such a payment can be justified.

 

Radiation exposure

While radiation here is higher than on earth it is acceptable (as long as you take your meds), apart from the two week period where readings reach dangerous levels for long-term exposer, most people call it ‘close ‘up time’. Given the exposure that veterans like myself that accumulated over the years it is inspiriting that the cancer risks for us are even higher than the rest of the people here. Our life expediency (the few that every return to earth) is also shorter, even with the best medicine in the world they can’t stop this planet from taking us. So far I seem to be a statistical anomaly, over thirty years and no cancer yet, alright a number of abnormal cell groups; but no tumours yet. I don’t know when they’ll turn, but I expect this planet to kill me first. Still don’t know which ones worst though.

 

Pandora’s media appearance

Since I have remained on Pandora since operations began I have not experienced first-hand its depiction in the media, but I am informed that the depiction is rose-tinted. From old members of the UNEF I have learned that while clips of Pandora have become a regular on streams, people only see a wonderland. When they see a Banshee they see a wondrous creature, not something that can tear a man limb from limb, neither have they seen the effects of Scorpion Thistle acid. Such a view of Pandora gives people unrealistic expectations about operations here, decrying the use of force which is necessary for our continued operation here. As such I request that more is done disseminate the situation on Pandora to the general public, if people understood the conditions here they may be more accepting of the use of force.

 

Recreational activities

There is much to do here recreation wise. Most people spend them off time resting, in the sims or using their media devices. There is little interaction between the various forces here, the SpecOps stay in their barracks and the miners and the scientists stay in their flats. They keep apart themselves. The only cross department activity anyone does anymore is the basketball teams and even then it’s only a core of dedicates, some turn up to watch but it gets less each year. The avatar team is banned from competing for competitive reasons.

Most of the real action is in the private clubs, officially their prohibited but everyone ignores that ruling. Even admit that even I’ve set one up, nothing illegal though; just a place where fellow veterans of this place can meet up and chat. You have to have been here for 8 years before you’re allowed into the ‘veterans club’. It used to be 10 years but there was so few of us that we decided to let some people in. Most people don’t sign up for a second session on Pandora, even fewer a third. It’s open to anybody to, not just military unlike the other veterans club. Even got Dr Augustine to come round a couple of times, back when I was working with her team. We don’t do much, just sit in a storeroom and chat about things. What going on, beyond the wire, most of all about home.

 

The Na’vi

I remember when they first came out of the jungle towards the camp, we're expected it, planned for it, but nothing could really prepare us for first contact. I keep thinking back to those times, I've still got the knife that was given to me, most think its was looted but it still reminds me of what might have been if things had gone differently; if we'd reacted better. But that is the past, no good being sad about it now.

During my time here I have compiled many a report about the Na’vi, especially during their discovery at the start of our operations. We seem fascinated by them according to their media coverage, even I pour over research on them. Perhaps it is their exoticness or perhaps it the fact they are the only other sentient species we know of. Given their presence so close there must be others. But there is a growing paradox in our treatment of them, some see them as primates to be tamed and educated, others hold them as pure and sacred, and that we must not change them. I’ve seen enough of them to know that they aren’t savages, they have compassion and culture, but I have also seen them slit a man’s throat and leave him to die. So perhaps both sides are wrong, their just people and just as flawed as us. Sure they have right to live here it is their world, but we also got the right to be here, unobtainium is too important for us to walk away.

Amendment 1: Perhaps the problem is that their too human. When people see them on the screen they don’t see alien, they see blue humans. They think that we can ‘chat’ about things and live in peace. But what can we talk to them about, the weather? We’re too distant, culturally to get along. But we’re close enough physically that the media demands we try to negotiate. All we’re doing is driving us apart.

Amendment2: Jake Sully’s reports are fascinating, a real insight onto their culture and thinking. Unfortunately it confirms what I already knew; there is nothing we can share with them, nothing to build a more stable relationship. It seems we were always going to end up fighting each other. Also I am highly concerned about the stability of Jake Sully; he’s highly inversed in Na’vi culture and appears be view himself as a part of them. His descriptions of his activities with the Na’vi female known as Neytiri suggest that he is forming romantic relations with her, thankfully not sexual yet. All of these problems may cause him to defect.

 

Unobtainium 

I’ve read articles were people say we don’t need unobtainium, that we can live on what we’re got already and that we should come home. These people don’t remember what it was like during the resource wars. Sure I wasn’t alive during the worst parts but I still grew up in the tail end of it. My family wasn’t poor but we still caught some of it. I remember the energy rationing, the scarcity of food in the shops, the almost daily battles on the screen. When I failed to skip national service I saw what was left of the solar fields of North Africa, the people who starved as their states, too weak to support themselves as populations boomed, struggled to survive. I always heard it was worse in central Africa. Ultimately how I got here after all. But now there is hope again. There is enough food to go round, sure it’s artificial but it’s better than starving. The train prices are affordable again, I even here there actually going down. Sure life is still hard, but at least it better than before, at least there is hope. I don’t want it to go back the way it was. I don’t want that world again.

 

Environmental impact of Operations

People say that we are running Pandora, polluting it air and it water. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure we’re pumping great clouds of stuff into the atmosphere; we use them for navigation beyond the wire if our comms go down; but this place just sucks it up. The trees convert it back faster than we can pump it out. The whole host of those plants the scientist get excited about go ape shit over what we leave behind; thrive on sucking the impurities out apparently. We clear an area one year and it’s grown back up the next. That’s the tragic thing about this place, no matter how hard we try to tame this place, it just keeps getting back up. If we left I doubt there would be anything to prove this base was ever here in a few decades, all that effort, all that sacrifice, all for nothing in the end.

 

Why am I here?

Why am I here? That’s a question I’ve asked many a time. Why don’t I pack this in and travel back to earth? You don’t know how much I long for earth. I’m tired for this place, I’m tired of the death, I’m tired of forever breathing through a mask, I’m tired of being messed around by RDA and I’m tired of writing reports I know no one important will ever read. I hunger for the people around me, to breath real air, no matter how populated. Not to have to kill any more. Each time an ISV comes I decide that this time I will go home. And yet, I never do. It’s the thrill of being beyond the wire, getting to grips with this place that pulls me back. For years I’ve made excuses, but it time to face facts. I love this place and I hate myself for it.

 

 

 

 

It finally come to this, Quaritch’s attack is an hour from starting. I don’t reckon for our chances, it too much like Albion Dawn, even if they succeed this won’t stop the war. The Na’vi won’t stop until they are through the wire, and then, it over for all of us. If only Sully hadn’t raised this army, if only if he hadn’t defected. If only Quaritch had sent the bulldozer to that tree, if I’d only said louder that it was a bad idea. But it too late for that, we play the cards we are given and all point to death.

 

I always knew this day would come; the first time they came out of the tree all those years ago, I wondered when we would have to fight them. I could skip this fight, but I was at the beginning of this, might as well go down with it. I’ll talk to Quaritch; see if I can’t grab a place on one of the Samsons. I’m transmitting my hard drive to the ISV in orbit, so if we fail at least some of my work might survive. So if no-one ever reads this I guess we won, if not. I guess I’m dead.

 

Capt. Frank D. Metzger

United Nations Expeditionary Force (UNEF)

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
